Trailer for Anima D'Acciaio (Soul of Steel)

Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

I was immediately drawn to this trailer because of the great connection it makes between a long tradition of frame building and today's modern fixie culture.

Via Urban Velo:
Anima D’Acciaio (Soul of Steel) is a film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions. You can see the whole film this summer at the Bicycle Film Festival."

The Bicycle Film Festival is in Detroit July 31 to August 1st.

ANIMA D'ACCIAIO
(SOUL OF STEEL)
LANGUAGE: ITALIAN (SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH)
A film by Daniel Leeb of Cinecycle Productions

A Portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka "Ciocc" . Ciocc shares his wisdom and life story while handbuilding a revolutionary new frame for urban fixed gear cycling. Ciocc demonstrates that the tradition and craft of framebuilding's Golden age can be re-born and push the technical frontier of Cycling's future. . also Feaures Ed "Wonka" La Forte and Antonio Colombo with an original soundtrack composed by Amedeo & Simone Pace of BlondeRedhead.

Yvon Le Caer, a different kind of endurance cycling

After a career in traditional cycle racing in the 1980's Yvon Le Caer turned to new goals on the open seas.

Sadly after his successes crossing the Florida Straight (Florida to the Bahamas, 1981) and the English Channel (1985) he was hit by a hit and run driver in Florida in 1986 permanently halting his cycling pursuits.

A great overview with some impressive press clippings here are on his site here. Yvon Le Caer

BTW, a great quote from his website.

"The world is a better place to live in because it
contains people who will give up ease and security
to do what they themselves believe worth doing.
They do the useless, brave, noble, the divinely foolish
and the very wisest things that are done by man.
And what they prove to themselves and to others is that man
is no mere creature of his habits, no mere automaton in his routine,
but that in the dust in which he is made, there is also fire
lighted now and then by great winds from the sky."

Quote [Author unknown] sent to Yvon by an American enthusiast
in the context of "Operation Gulf Stream."

Review: the Planet Bike SuperFlash

The best kind of review is the one you don't have to give. I 100% agree with the below quoted review. (I even use the exact same technique with a zip tie, but I use a reusable zip tie.) The Planet bike Superflash (Serfas also makes an identical version) is the single most important piece of saftey equipment money can buy for cycling besides a helmet, and it's only $20. The brightness of it's primary LED makes all the difference in the world, the price tag makes it a given. If you commute, this is a must have.

The bottom line is cars will behave differently when you use it.

1) cars will actually slow down

2) cars will actually give you the 3 feet entitled to you by law

I think it's simply because the light is so bright they actualy register you. No more brain dead drivers flying buy at 55+ mph inches away. Or maybe they even think you're a cop or construction workers or something. I don't know what they think, but it works.

Do you have one of these? If not, you need to go straight out and get one - they're about 20-bucks US and are unequaled in the battery operated arena of rear lights. This thing uses a single 1/2 watt LED, backed up with 2 smaller LED's that more than adequately keep you visible to passing cars - not just at night but during daylight hours as well.

Cons to this light? Well, a few times I've had this light fall off my bag, usually with the light arranging itself into its white back, clear red lens, and its 2-AAA batteries rolling around underneath a dumpster or another undesirable location. Fix you say? Simple, take a zip-tie and wrap it around the light such that it grabs onto the back clip - two benefits to this; 1) light doesn't fall apart and 2) light is 'locked' to your bag or quick-attach mount. If you don't use this zip-tie method, people may possibly ridicule you and laugh when you roll by - don't take that chance.

Recharge the batteries when the light fades - this light will continue to function under a reduced battery level but at a much lower light output. Put fresh batteries in this gal and you'll notice the difference immediately.

[...]

My advice - go get at least one of these lights. Even better, put one on your bag and one on your seatpost or seatstay. A few close friends have received this light as a gift from me - I believe it to be the best out there.

One last point. In winter lithium ion batteries last infinitely longer then regular batteries or rechargeables. Rechargeables are particularly suseptible to cold. In the summer any battery will last virtually forever.

Original post: IBIKEMPLS.com, The Planet Bike SuperFlash

The ultimate gear review, Ian Hibell's gear

All I can say is holy crap.

This is an amazing high quality interview with Ian Hibell, famed world bicycle tourist from 1975 as he was headed from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope.

The interviews starts as they ride bicycles around the studio after which they proceed to go through every bit of his gear.

It's just amazing, I simply can't believe how much gear, in particular how much food he carries. Such as a half dozen eggs!? I have no idea how he fits it all in his bags, they must be magical bottomless bags.

Add the fact that everything is simply larger and heavier... pots, stove, sleeping bags. By comparison everything is now much lighter, warmer and more compact, and yet this guy traveled the world with only a couple panniers.

It's also interesting to note that the basic touring bike has not changed all that much since 1975. In fact you could ride his bike down the road today, almost 35 years later, and not many people would even notice the difference.



Via The Epicurean Cyclist

Vicious Cycles 80mm rims

I forgot to take a picture of them, probably because they were the first thing I saw when I walked in the door at NAHBS, but I talked to the Vicious Cycles rep at the show and saw them with my own eyes.

Vicious cycles will be producing an 80mm production rim as as an alternative to the Surly Large Marge 65mm. While technically you can use up to a 100mm with the Surly Pugsley / Endomorph tire combination, the 80 is perhaps the perfect size as it can slide easily in and out of the dropouts without removing the disc brake calipers.

The 80mm rim will be available with regular and offset spoke holes through Vicious and QBP though there have been some delays in the initial shipments. They also weigh 1100 or so grams which I assume is only about 50-100 grams more then the Surly Large Marge Rim, and this is undrilled. Many people are drilling out large portions of the fat bike rims to drop weight and the vicious rim should be perfect for this.

BTW, I'm not sure I remember correctly but I believe these rims will be called the "big betty" or "big bertha".

No information is yet to be found on the Vicious site that I can see so you'll have to call them for details. Be sure to suggest they update their site.

photo via pedals on Flickr

Tweed Ride

"Ladies. Gentlemen. Announcing the first LFGSS Winter Dress Club Run: a social ride with a bit of style.

We will be gathering for 2pm in Hanover Square. Please be prompt; at 2, we'll head down to H Huntsman & Sons, 11 Saville Row to begin the ride. The route will be a fairly leisurely ride through London. No need to pack Kendal Mint Cakes, the ride will include a stop at a tea shop at Tour de Ville for mid-ride fortitude, and will finish at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club for refreshments and cheer.

Proper attire will of course be expected, so dapper gents and elegant ladies, polish off your lugged steel beasts and prepare your best outfits. Suggested attire: woolen plus fours, harris tweed jackets, flat caps, fair isle jumpers, alpaca coats, merino wool team jerseys, cycling skirts and perhaps a jaunty cape for the ladies, cravats or ties for gentlemen, and of course a hip flask of brandy."

Via: The Epicurean Cyclist

A day out cycling in 1955 (video)

Love this video. It was produced by the British Transport Film in 1955 to illustrate a day out cycling.


Cyclist Special - part one

For me the first minute or two illustrate all the things I dream might exist, and hopefully one day will exist, in our national and regional commuter rail systems.

It shows how many of the issues with cycles on a train were resolved over 50 years ago. Particularly how the use of bike cars allow pedestrians to enter bike specific cars, hang their bikes with the help of an attendant and move through the inside of the train to a seating car. Every detail is covered right down to staggering the bike hanging hooks so more bikes can be fit in without entanglement of the handlebars.

part two is available here

Also of related interest is this British Rail TV advert from the 1970's. It's the classic bike vs. car scenario.



British Rail UK TV Advert 1970s

Via: The Epicurean Cyclist